Lookin' good PJ! If it's anything like my XPA-5 you'll need to recalibrate the sound level on all of your speaks, as the amp boosted the signal quite a bit. After you get it all dialed in and are able to do some serious listening, I'm curious to hear your impressions (I had the XPA hooked up to my 6Ts and 6C since I got them, so I never did a before-and-after comparison). Congrats on the latest member of your audio family.

That is nice. I was hoping one day i'd upgrade to a old Adcom 3 channel amp, but until then i will live vicariously through others. Congrats on your new purchase, i'm sure those 5B's will sing with that XPA-3 and 12D you've got going on in there. [Y] I couldn't imagine you'd ever want anything more in that room

Oh, you might not need those fans on the Onkyo anymore seeing as how you've dropped the load of the front 3 channels?

OK…so I snuck in the movie "Identity" tonight on BD. I don't think I've watched it since either my 876 or my Aperions, so this isn't going to be any kind of comparison test. But I will say, WOW.

Not a lot of LFE, but the whole thing (for those that haven't seen it) takes place in a rainstorm. The thunder, and consistent rain throughout was a stellar effect. While there was minimal music, the depth and clarity of it was outstanding.

Again…if you have a comparable AVR to an 876, I don't know that it's a vast improvement. Much of what I hear could be a placebo effect. But if I were to do it all over again, I would've started with an Emo amp as part of my original plan! My Aperions sound amazing with it.

Sorry I don't really have any more specifics to share. If I get a chance to do a little more critical listening this weekend, I'll be sure and share my thoughts on it again.

i'm with pj…..i have a denon 3808ci and i have a xpa3 driving my 3 6ts. everything sounds better-both for music and ht,i can really crank everything up to another level…i apologize for all the lower case typing my right arm is in a splint and sling..had a complete right bicep tear, pain meds seem to be working. i will have plenty of time to listen to my setup, off from work for at least 6 mos.

A better question to answer would be how large your room is. I have 4B's in a medium sized room (15×20) and they sound great.

Unless you're running incredibly inefficient surrounds or are in an enormous room, I think a decent receiver running the surrounds and an XPA-3 for the front stage is a good play. Also, you can eventually add an XPA-2 for the L-R channels, and have the 3 run your center and two surrounds down the line. That would be a KILLER 5-channel power setup. So you know, that's my eventual plan when I step up in size both in speaker and in living space.